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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Not My First Dance

Not My First Dance

Cindy Sheehan

In the year 2007, I was hot on the trail of the impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney for treason. One of my faux-allies was Congressman John Conyers who wrote a book called: The Constitution in Crisis: The Impeachment of George W. Bush while he was ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee.

So, after Conyers became the chair of that same committee when the Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives in early 2007, many of us pressed him hard to introduce articles of impeachment. I went to DC frequently and met with him many times. Each time, he would schedule another meeting and we would get together and talk about it some more; then he would schedule another meeting…until one day in July of that year, 50 of us got arrested in his office after we went there demanding impeachment...and he tried to schedule another meeting.

I think that’s called something like: stonewalling.

Lately, I have been working with the activists of Occupy Sacramento. They are in full solidarity with all the movements around the world, yet they are also fighting a daily battle to be able to fully realize their 1st Amendment rights to peaceably assemble and freedom of speech. Occupy Sacramento is only allowed to “Occupy” Cesar Chavez Park from the hours of 5am to 11pm—if anyone is left in the park after those hours (like I was this past Saturday), he/she is arrested by the Sacramento PD and then delivered to the very inhospitable hands of the Sacramento County Sheriffs (more about my arrest experience, later).

Tuesday, October 18th, the Occupy movement packed the City Council chambers and 40 of us spoke in favor of the city allowing us to keep our tents up all day and night and to actually have an occupation where six of the hours each day are not wasted by tearing down and setting the camp back up.

The individuals who spoke at the meeting were all impassioned and articulate. Several of them cited Supreme Court cases and case law to back up our claim to the park. Many of us stressed our Constitutional Rights, etc.

I spoke briefly at the meeting and after I spoke, one of the mayor’s (NBA player cum mayor, Kevin Johnson) lackeys brought me over a card with “Cindy, Thank you for your courage, K,” written on the back.

I wish I could say that the Mayor had a little courage to support the Occupation, but he said that he would be in “dialogue” with the movement to try and figure things out—bullshit, we dialogued for over two hours with him and we weren’t asking for a “dialogue” anyway.

The activists at Occupy Sacramento are brilliant, respectful and dedicated to making the world a better place for everyone. They keep Cesar Chavez Park clean and they provide services to the homeless population.

Occupy Sacramento is also getting stonewalled by the political establishment which hopes that if enough rope is let out, the activist will either hang themselves or fashion the rope to make more chains to bind us.

The movement is growing and soon the establishment won’t have any options whether to grant or deny favors. The days are finally here where the more oppressed a people are, the harder they fight back.

The young people were upset at the City Council’s decision, but I told them it was a foregone conclusion and everyone from the councilors to the mayor played his/her part. It’s really not about the 99% or the 1%, because there are so many people who aren’t in the 1% regarding income/wealth, but they sure do due diligence or enforce for the 1%. The Sacramento City Council and their police goons are perfect examples of that.

"Greed" is not a vice that is found solely in the 1% and this is why I keep saying that the answer lies within each and everyone of us in our communities. We must create the revolutionary communities that we choose to reside in—not have arbitrary rules forced on us by abusive politicians who don’t have our best interests at heart—only the interests of the 1%.

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Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox is an independent online radio show and blog that strives to be completely free from establishment political ideology and focus on a message of peace, justice, environmental sustainability and economic equality. To this end, we provide educational and inspirational programs on topics related to these issues and we organize/promote actions working towards peace, justice, and environmental sustainability.